THE RELATIONSHIPS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, COPING STRATEGIES AND PERCEIVED STRESS AMONG SAUDI ARABIAN UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS

Abstract

Abstract Undergraduate nursing students face stress during their education due to demanding requirements that necessitate maintaining a positive demeanor while managing academic and emotional challenges. Literature on emotional intelligence underscores its positive outcomes, particularly regarding students employing adaptive coping styles and managing perceived stress. Yet, nursing education has not yet dedicated sufficient resources to foster emotional intelligence among students, despite recommendations from American Associations of Colleges of Nursing to incorporate emotional intelligence skills into nursing curricula. Additionally, there exists a gap in the literature on relationships between emotional intelligence, perceived stress, and coping strategies among undergraduate nursing students. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to explore the levels and relationship between emotional intelligence, perceived stress, and frequently used coping strategies among undergraduate nursing students. It also examined the mediating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between coping strategies and perceived stress. A convenience sample of 149 undergraduate nursing students from two public nursing schools in Saudi Arabia was used. Data were collected using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Coping Behavior Inventory (CBI), and the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS). A combination of Lazarus and Folkman (1984) Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping and Salovey and Mayers (1990) Ability Model of Emotional Intelligence guided this study. The study findings revealed a significant negative relationship between emotional intelligence and perceived stress, while no significant relationship was found between overall coping strategies and perceived stress. In addition, the results confirmed that emotional intelligence fully mediated the relationship between coping strategies and perceived stress. The findings of this study help fill a gap in nursing knowledge by providing a comprehensive understanding of the relationships between emotional intelligence, perceived stress, and coping strategies among undergraduate nursing students. Additionally, the findings offer valuable insights and a strong rationale for nursing education programs to integrate emotional intelligence training into the curriculum. The incorporation of emotional intelligence may support the evolution of nursing practice by equipping future nurses with competencies that help manage stress in both academic environments and clinical training. As the students in this study were engaged in clinical placements, these findings may have implications not only for their education but potentially for their future roles as registered nurses.